Growing up in the mid-2000s meant you were constantly bombarded with tie-in games for every single animated movie that hit the big screen. Most were total garbage. Half-baked platformers rushed out to meet a release date. But then there was the Wallace and Gromit Curse of the Were-Rabbit game, which somehow, against all odds, ended up being a legit masterpiece of charm and chaotic physics.
It’s been over twenty years since Aardman and Frontier Developments dropped this on the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube. Yet, if you fire it up today on an old console or through an emulator, it doesn't feel like a relic. It feels alive.
Most people remember the movie—the vegetable-centric horror parody that bagged an Oscar. But the game? It was doing things with open-world design and cooperative play that felt way ahead of its time for a "kids' game." It wasn't just a cash-in. It was an extension of West Wallaby Street.
The Bun-Gun and the Art of the Vacuum
The core mechanic of the Wallace and Gromit Curse of the Were-Rabbit game is the "Bun-Gun." On paper, it sounds simple. You suck up rabbits. You shoot them out. But the execution is where the magic happens.
Frontier Developments—the same studio that would later give us Planet Coaster and Elite Dangerous—clearly obsessed over the tactile feel of the world. Everything is interactable. You aren't just walking through a static level; you’re stomping through gardens, smashing gnomes, and vacuuming up everything that isn't bolted to the floor. It’s messy. It's loud. It’s quintessentially Wallace.
You’ve got this huge variety of gadgets, too. The Screwdriver, the Bolt Bolt, and even the "Harvester" vehicle. Each tool changes how you navigate the environment. Most tie-ins give you a jump button and maybe a punch. Here, you're basically playing a light version of Luigi's Mansion crossed with a sandbox platformer.
The pacing is weird in the best way. One minute you're calmly fixing a fence, and the next, you're in a frantic night-time chase trying to stop a massive, fluffy monster from destroying a prize marrow. It captures that specific British "cozy-horror" vibe that Nick Park perfected.
Why the Open World Actually Worked
We talk about open worlds now like they’re these massive, 100-hour checklists. Back in 2005, the Wallace and Gromit Curse of the Were-Rabbit game gave us a condensed, dense version of Wigan.
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It was split into hubs like the Town Centre, Waller's Industrial Estate, and Tottington Hall. What made it special was the day-to-night cycle. During the day, it's a puzzle-platformer. You talk to NPCs like PC Mackintosh or the iconic Reverend Hedges. You do odd jobs. You earn "pantry" items.
Then night falls.
The atmosphere shifts. The Were-Rabbit is out there. The music gets creepier. Suddenly, those same streets you were just wandering are filled with different types of pests—vampire bats, squirrels, and of course, those endless hordes of bunnies. It gave the world a sense of consequence. If you didn't clear the pests during the day, the night was going to be a lot harder.
The Co-op Dynamic: More Than Just a Second Player
Honestly, playing this solo is fine, but playing it co-op is how it's meant to be experienced. One person plays Wallace, the other plays Gromit.
The character swap isn't just cosmetic. Gromit is agile; he can double jump and perform more athletic moves. Wallace is... well, Wallace. He’s clunky, but he can use the heavy machinery and gadgets more effectively. This forced cooperation meant you actually had to talk to the person sitting next to you on the couch.
"The genius of the game lies in how it translates Aardman’s claymation style into a 3D space without losing the soul of the characters." — Early 2000s retrospective analysis.
The animation is the unsung hero here. The way Wallace waddles. The way Gromit rolls his eyes or hides behind his paws. Frontier nailed the "squash and stretch" physics that make Aardman's work so tactile. Even the way the rabbits go flying into the Bun-Gun feels like it was hand-animated by a guy in a studio in Bristol.
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A Technical Marvel (For a PS2)
Let’s talk shop for a second. The Wallace and Gromit Curse of the Were-Rabbit game featured a fairly sophisticated physics engine for the hardware.
Breaking objects, the way the vacuum suction affected the environment, and the sheer number of NPCs on screen during the "Competition" segments were impressive. It wasn't perfect. The frame rate could tank when things got too chaotic, and the camera—like most cameras in 2005—occasionally had a mind of its own and wanted to show you the inside of a brick wall.
But the sheer ambition of putting a fully voiced, semi-open-world game with a persistent pest-tracking system onto a 128-bit console is wild. It showed that Frontier didn't view this as a side project. They viewed it as a world-building exercise.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Difficulty
There’s this misconception that because it’s a Wallace and Gromit game, it’s a total breeze for toddlers.
Wrong.
Some of those later missions, especially the ones involving the "Anti-Pesto" van and the tight time limits for the Giant Vegetable Competition, are genuinely stressful. Getting a 100% completion rating—finding every single hidden card and capturing every single rabbit variety—requires some serious platforming chops.
The game respects the player. It doesn't hold your hand through every puzzle. You have to figure out how to lure rabbits into traps or how to use the environment to reach those high-up collectibles. It’s "Nintendo-hard" in specific spots, which is why it has such a dedicated cult following even now.
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The Legacy of the Were-Rabbit
Why are we still talking about this? Because the Wallace and Gromit Curse of the Were-Rabbit game represents a lost era of gaming. An era where "licensed game" didn't mean "lazy mobile port" or "generic battle pass shooter."
It was a time when developers were given a beloved IP and told to make something fun. There’s no microtransactions here. No "live service" elements. Just a complete, polished experience that feels like it was made by people who actually watched the movie.
It’s a reminder that hardware limitations often breed creativity. Lacking the power to make a photorealistic world, Frontier made a charming one. They used color palettes that popped. They used a soundtrack that mirrored Julian Nott’s orchestral brilliance. They made a game that smelled like Wensleydale.
How to Play It Today
If you're looking to revisit this classic, you have a few options.
- Original Hardware: Dust off the PS2 or Xbox. The Xbox version is technically the superior one, offering 480p support and slightly better textures if you have the right cables.
- Backwards Compatibility: If you have an early "Fat" PS3, you can slide the disc right in. Some Xbox 360 models also support the original Xbox disc, though check the compatibility lists first as there can be some minor glitching.
- Emulation: On PC, PCSX2 (for PS2) or Xemu (for Xbox) are your best bets. Emulation allows you to crank the internal resolution up to 4K, which makes those clay textures look absolutely stunning. It’s like watching the movie in high definition.
- Completionist Tip: Don't ignore the side missions from the townspeople. That’s where the best humor is buried, and it’s the only way to unlock the higher-tier gadget upgrades.
Next Steps for Fans
If you've already conquered the Were-Rabbit, look into Wallace & Gromit in Project Zoo. It’s the predecessor to this game, and while it's more of a linear platformer, it has that same Aardman wit. Also, keep an eye on the new Aardman projects coming to Netflix—the studio is seeing a massive resurgence, and there are always rumors of a modern gaming collection being in the works.
For now, grab a friend, grab a controller, and go catch some rabbits. It's still the best way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon.